WOMEN have all sorts of ways of conquering men, especially in Goldoni's Italian farce Mirandolina.

Now at the Royal Exchange in a new translation by Manchester-born Ranjit Bolt and directed by Jonathan Munby, the play stars Raquel Cassidy as Mirandolina, a beautiful, independent and feisty young woman, who inherits an inn and is immediately surrounded by fawning men.

One of her boarders Colonel Ripafratta, played by Matthew Kelly, is an avowed woman hater and thus becomes something of a challenge for Mirandolina.

In Goldoni's original, written in the 18th century, the fast-paced action takes place in Florence but, according to Raquel, who starred as Lady Macbeth in Out Of Joint's memorable (and M.E.N. Theatre Award-winning) Macbeth, the setting in this version has been updated to Mussolini's Italy in the thirties.

"That's been done for lots of reasons but partly, I think, because it makes it closer to the audience," she believes.

Prancing

"The thirties is something people can relate to nowadays, rather than putting it back in a time when people were wearing big wigs and prancing about!

"The thirties was also poverty-stricken, with a lot of unemployment and life under a dictatorship - the sort of things that really do make the struggle for life and existence the characters go through in Goldoni's play very real. Women were supposed to be madonnas and mothers, they got medals for the more children that they had.

"They were supposed to have lustrous hair and be very, very beautiful but not heard. Their place in society was very defined and limited, almost like wearing an emotional and social corset."

Part of the reason she took the job, admits Raquel, "was meeting the director Jonathan Munby at the audition. He seemed instantly like someone you would learn from working with."

Having said that, Raquel admits to finding the prospect of working in the round for the first time "terrifying".

Northenden

Hampshire-raised Raquel, whose father's family comes from Northenden, says: "I was about four when I first thought 'how fantastic it would be to have everyone looking at me', so I suppose I've always wanted to be an actress," she laughs.

"I watched a lot of black and white movies with my mum and thought how fantastic it would be to be in them and dress up in lovely frocks! There were other reasons along the way," she emphasises.

"But I am one of these people who always wanted to do it and I didn't heed that desire, so I was always choosing other things and did come to acting late.

"The career I was in before I finally took the plunge into acting was working in research into development in maternal and child health, which is fantastically competitive. So it wasn't like I did a course in something that I could easily go back into."

Red Cap

Raquel, who starred in two seasons of Teachers and in Red Cap on TV, says she loves the sort of "research which involves you going to work with the police force or the army for a week, both of which I've done. All of that is thrilling and at least as much fun as putting it into practice!"

In the production, she discloses, they're adding songs and dances. "Most of the characters get a chance to express themselves in songs that Ranjit, the adapter, and Jonathan have created from monologues.

"I love it in the theatre when characters burst in to song because there's no better way to express it than singing it out! It's entertainment and I think Goldoni would approve, althoughit's something new for me to attempt so it wasn't my choice!", she laughs.

Mirandolina is at the Royal Exchange until Saturday, August 5. é7.50 - é26. Call 0161 833 9833.